I forgot to mention that Jo and I went to see the Sisters of Mercy at the Melkweg last Sunday. That was the fitrst time either of us had seen them since the late eighties, when we both still lived in England.
It wasn’t really the Sisters that we used to worship, though. Oh, Eldritch is still there, but his long hair and hat are gone. In fact, all of his hair was gone; he’s shaven-headed these days. The shades were still in place, though. Has anyone ever seen this man’s face? He can still suck his way through a pack of cigarettes on stage, too.
Dr. Avalance was still there, too, as invisible and reliable as ever, thumping out the beats. No bass player was present, but there were a couple of good guitarists, apparently Chris May and Ben Christo.
The Sisters haven’t released a record since 1992, although they keep threatening to do so. They played quite a bit of new material, so a new record would be nice.
Apart from the new material, the set contained a few surprises. The Sisterhood’s Giving Ground was performed, for example, along with a lot of material from Floodland.
The omissions were surprising, too. Nothing at all was played from First And Last And Always. And, if I’m remembering correctly, the only older tracks played were Anaconda and absolutely storming versions of Alice and Temple Of Love, the latter of which was the part of the encore.
For the first few minutes of the gig, I wondered whether I’d be able to say afterwards that I had really seen the Sisters Of Mercy, because it was almost impossible to actually see them. There was so much dry ice pouring off the stage, that visibility was down to a few metres. Occasionally, the shades of Eldritch, contrasted against his gaunt complexion, would slide into focus from within the fog, and then sink as enigmatically back into it.
I was surprised how much I enjoyed myself, I must admit. I used to worship this band, but had lost touch with what their progress since I moved to Amsterdam in ’91. After the Under The Gun single in ’92, they pretty much disappeared; or so I had thought.
The sound was very good and Eldritch still has great stage presence. I’ll definitely go to see them again the next time they’re in town. Let’s hope there’s a new album before either Eldritch or I pass away.